Birthdays and Blood feuds: Chapter 1
by druidwolf
Summary: Birthday plans are thrown into ruins at the prospect of bloodshed, but why has this even happened? no violence in this chapter, don't worry This is my first fan fiction so i would really appreciate any opinions :D


Tap, tap, tap

Numbers and letters played across the screen and reflected in Sunny's eyes as she clicked away at the keyboard, the screen reflected in her almond eyes. She gazed at the glowing box in front of her and, sighing, pushed her chair backwards. She looked down at the empty space beneath her desk where wolf usually slept;

"Looks like I'm the only one who remembered"

She stood up and walked to the large window overlooking the runway in silence, then:

"Sunny, can I come in?"

Sunny smiled "sounds like uncle Hal remembered" she thought happily. "Sure, I'm not doing anything" she called

The door opened and Hal Emmerich walked in. he was a handsome man, about 5"12 with a mop of dark brown hair and lopsided glasses. He wore denim jeans and a jacket. Sunny was amused to see him without his usual white lab coat.

"Hey what's up?" she asked, nonchalantly

Hal pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose "can you come with me sunny, I need some help with a program, I can't seem to get passed this one glitch in the system"

"Oh" sunny hid her disappointment "umm yeah sure" she grabbed her hoodie and followed her guardian out of the room.

"Umm, uncle Hal?" sunny asked "this isn't the way to your lab"

They were walking along a small grassy slope, away from the main building of the series of warehouses where her latest work was taking place.

Hal smiled "I know" he said, jogging down the slope. He held out his hand to support Sunny as she followed him, then, as she went to walk forwards he covered her eyes.

"Hey! What are you doing" she laughed as he led her forwards.

"Wait and see" came the reply

They walked on for 5 minutes then they stopped and Hal pulled his hands away

"SURPRISE!"

Sunny jumped and laughed as she looked forwards.

Boris in his usual maverick jacket, Kevin wearing jeans and a sleeveless gym top, Courtney with her blond hair loose over a purple blouse and shorts, George with his mechanical arm stark white against his yellow top and grey shorts and Hal, all sat on a large blue blanket with an unlit BBQ and a pile of presents to the side.

"Its ya birthday nah?" said George patting the blanket "what the rass are ya waitin for"

Everyone laughed as Sunny took her seat.

"You thought we had forgotten da?" asked Boris, chuckling.

"Of course she did" Kevin cut in "that's why it was a surprise" he winked at Sunny

"Oh guys" she smiled back, then heard something. Turning around she saw wolf bounding towards them, his mechanical legs pumping as he covered the shortening distance, he slowed to a stop in front of the blanket and, flicking his long tail, lay down next to Sunny on the grass.

"Wolf!" Sunny laughed as she reached over and hugged him.

"Happy birthday Sunny" he replied putting his clawed metal paw on her leg "I apologize for my tardiness"

"Oh no worries" she grinned and looked round at everyone then frowned.

"What's the matter Sunny" asked Courtney

"Nothing, nothing. I… I was just wondering if Raiden was coming"

Boris shifted and sighed "I am sorry sunny, Raiden wanted to come but he had to train soldiers da? I do not know when he will be back" he smiled sadly "he is busy man, but he left you a present"

"Oh ok" sunny sighed and then smiled "thanks guys, this is brilliant"

Kevin smiled and laughed "don't worry about Raiden he'll put those soldiers through their paces. Anyway how about I put the BBQ on and you can open your presents"

"Awesome" sunny reached over picked up a present, in the process one of them rolled off into the bushes

"Woops" sunny, stood up "I'd better go get that"

Her friends grinned up at her whilst Kevin hastily hid a laugh

"It was an accident" she protested "I'll just go and get it"

"No need" said Boris

"What do you mean?"

Boris nodded to a spot behind her and laughed

"Happy Birthday Sunny" came a quiet voice

"RAIDEN!" she cried as she ran towards him and hugged his metal frame fiercely

"Whoa careful Sunny" he grinned "this may be a military body but I think you're denting it"

Sunny laughed and let him go "I thought you were training" she said, looking at his cobalt black, custom-made frame and the HF katana on his back.

Raiden shrugged "I was, but I'm finished" he said, handing her back the runaway present.

"What were you doing" she asked, walking towards the blanket and sitting back down next to wolf, the present in her hand and the pile next to her forgotten.

"just routine combat training" he replied, throwing his Katana down on the grass and sitting down on her other side, one muscular leg stretched out, the other bent as he rested his arm on it. He nodded to his friends as he made himself comfortable. Sunny looked at Raiden and grinned when she caught his eye, before seeing something a little odd. Apparently she wasn't the only one who noticed

"Raiden are those...Splinters in your hair?" asked Courtney, raising an eyebrow. Everyone turned to look at him as he grinned sheepishly, and ran a clawed hand through his hair "it wouldn't surprise me" he laughed.

"Come here" sunny rolled her eyes at Courtney good-naturedly, before leaned over and tousled his hair, Raiden glanced at her and she smiled shyly before picking out a few wooden splinters about half a finger length.

"Thanks" said Raiden, shaking his head like a dog.

"How did they get there?" ask Kevin, as he placed a tray of burgers and hotdogs on the middle of the blanket and sat down next to Courtney. Everyone looked a Raiden expectantly.

"It's no big deal" he replied shrugging.

"Yeah right, come on tell us, it IS my birthday" whined sunny, "Hal, Wolf, tell him"

Wolf lifted his metallic head off his paws and flicked his "After taking into account your line of work and behavior and disregarding the chance of any system malfunction that may alter the previous, the likelihood of you procuring wood chips in your hair without a misadventure of a sort is very improbable"

Raiden raised an eyebrow and looked at Hal Emmerich

"Uuuuhh, what he said"

Everyone laughed,

Sunny smiled smugly, Raiden dropped his head and smirked.

Boris slapped his knee and said "Come then Raiden, tell us what happened"

The cyborg rubbed the back of his neck and Sunny, knowing she had got round him, lent against wolf. Courtney lent against Kev and grinned cheekily while Hal and Boris sprawled out.

"I was just working on anti cyborg hand to hand combat with some of the more experienced soldiers, the usual, except these guys... weren't great, even their commander was getting fed up with it. I ran each of them through their paces and they didn't seem to like ending up on the floor" he paused as Hal snorted into his burger and Sunny shook her head before continuing "I was working with the last one, he was doing just as bad as the others he friends could see that he wasn't going to win so thought they'd help out a bit, one of the soldiers grabbed a chair and" he made a swiping motion with his hand "I put both of them to the floor, but still"

There was a moment of silence before everyone erupted into laughter, even wolf made a throaty mechanical sound in the back of his throat.

"You're loosing your touch Mr Lightning bolt" gasped Kevin.

"Shut up Kev" Raiden threw a burger bun and hit him square in the face, the laughter, redoubled.

Even after the laughter died down, sunny continued to laugh, tears rolling down her face as she calmed for a second before doubling over again. She grasped Raiden's leg, breathing deeply "okay, I think I'm good" she wheezed, wiping away tears.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Raiden, no worries"

Boris clapped his hands together, making everyone jump, although, sunny noticed, Wolf and Raiden didn't so much as flinch. "Come on sunny, open your presents" he said, his maverick coat rustling dryly.

Sunny grinned a reached for the present she had dropped earlier

_To sunny, happy birthday love Courtney_

She tore open the paper, opened a small box and pulled out a new Bluetooth earpiece

"Thanks Courtney, Just what I needed" she grinned happily, admiring the colour before placing in gently back inside the box and putting it to the side

The next one read: _happy birthday sunny, Kev._ She opened the mid-sized box and removed a black tank top with the slogan I'M WITH GENIUS underneath an arrow pointing upward. She laughed and looked at him, Kev winked at her and gave her a thumbs up

She then opened Boris' gift, a new watch with a sun insignia on the face, she strapped it on and admired the way it caught the sun.

Next was Hals, she gently opened the box and laughed, inside was a small, working Metal gear ray, she placed it on the palm of her hand and watched it walk around her hand, before showing it to Raiden "recognize him?" she asked cheekily

"Maybe a little" he snorted, unconsciously rubbing his right arm.

For the next 20 minutes she tore through her remaining presents, finding jumpers, perfumes and a new pair of on-ear headphones, before reaching for the last one

_To sunny, happy birthday love Rose, John and Raiden_

She gently unwrapped the paper and found a small silver box, engraved with a depiction of the sun and the words "the brightest of stars" tenderly she opened it to find a delicate woven silver bracelet and matching locket, she picked up the bracelet and admired the detail, in the weave were small crystalline beads shining in various shades of orange, yellow and gold. She slid it on then lifting the locket, she opened it to find a 4 picture slots, inside were a picture of her and wolf sat under a tree in summer, a picture of her, Raiden and Hal. Hal with his arm around her shoulder, one of her hands holding Raiden's wrist and wolf lying at her feet, the 3rd was a picture of everyone together stood in her lab. The final was a picture of a woman with the same fair hair and eyes as sunny. Her mother.

She looked up at her cyborg companion, secured the locket around her neck and smiled "thank you" she whispered, he nodded and smiled, and sunny could see a hint of sadness behind his ice blue eyes, the same that she was sure was reflected in hers.

The short silence was broken by a soldier stumbling down the verge.

"We're under attack!"


End file.
